Tag Archives: Fin Clipping

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) recently enacted new regulations to help prevent the illegal harvest and sale of Atlantic striped bass. The new rules, outlined in Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Regulations, Part XII Striped Bass, require recreational anglers to clip the right pectoral fin of striped bass 34 inches or larger at the time of harvest; fish with a missing right pectoral fin can’t be sold commercially in Rhode Island. DEM said the new regulations, adopted following considerable public input, will help prevent “stockpiling,” which occurs when fish are harvested on a day closed to commercial fishing and then offered for sale on an open day. The new regulations also address fish being illegally transported and sold in neighboring states, according to DEM. Read the rest here 09:00

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here